Lit. longevity screen. Type of folding screen made for celebrations of longevity, ga 賀. They were embellished with…

A pictorial work or works that appear within a painting as part of the overall composition. The best example being the *…

Lit. Vajra on the Way of Painting, Nakabayashi Chikutō's 中林竹洞 (1776-1853) reactionary critique of contemporary…

Lit. Secret Principles on the Way of Painting, a late 17th-century discourse on painting *…

Ch: huapu. Lit. Painting primers, often illustrated books explaining the canon of painting production or appreciation. In…

Lit. Summary of Painting Laws, the first Japanese theoretical text on Western painting. Published in 1778, the text…

Lit. Painting Laws: Methods of Coloring, a mid-18th-century painting manual edited by Sugaodō Yūsashi 菅生堂祐佐子…

An album of paintings. Small-size paintings, sketches, or drawings are either pasted or directly drawn on the pages of an…

Chinese term for a painting on a handscroll. The Japanese term *emaki 絵巻 has the…

Silk used for painting. Same as *eginu 絵絹.

Also read Gakō benran. Lit. Handbook on Painters, a late 17th-century history of Japanese painting…

A modern term for drafts and other preparatory drawings used for making a painting. Includes *…

Lit. Deep Probes into the Skill of Paintings. A mid-18th-century six-volume history of the *…

A tablet, plaque, or framed picture. The oldest form, dating back to the Nara period, is the wooden plaque *…

Ch: Hama Tiegue. Two Taoist immortals frequently paired in Chinese and Japanese painting. Gama 蝦蟇 (Ch: Hama), also…

Formerly called hishi 斐紙. Paper made from the fiber of the ganpi plant (Diplomorpha sikokiana honda or…

1　Pigment. Powdered colors used in oriental painting. Insoluble in water and most other liquid media.…

A fake or forgery. To produce a likeness of another painting with intent to deceive. Generally the forger is careful to use…

Glass painting. Oil or thick pigments are mixed with glue and applied to the reverse sides of glass plates, to be viewed…

Ch: hualun. Discourses on Painting. Writings on painting theory, criticism, principles or classification, also including…

A kind of poetic inscription, added to a blank area above or next to a completed painting. Typically, this inscription gives…

Net of Paintings, an early 18th-century introductory text on the study of painting by Hayashi Moriatsu 林守篤 (fl. early 18th…

Also written 画箋紙 or abbreviated to gasen, written 画箋, 画牋, or 雅宣. A paper of Chinese origin, xuanzhi (Jp:…

Monks who produced paintings of Buddhist subjects to accumulate religious or spiritual merit. Gasō refers to those…

Principles of Painting. A mid-18th-century five-volume treatise on painting by Sakurai Sekkan 桜井雪館 (1715-90). An ally of the…

Lit. Worthless Discussion of Painting. A late 18th-century three-volume treatise on painting by sinophile, Southern…

Also hyōdai 表題. The title daimoku 題目 of a literary work or painting. It is written on the outer cover of a…

Ch: Yan Ziling. A scholar-recluse of the later Han period, who was a childhood friend of Emperor Guangwu (Jp: Kōbu 光武, AD 4-…

Pictorial representations whose subject matter comes from Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). Either a…

Also kō-no-zu 香の図. A geometrical design pattern originally symbolizing combinations of incense fragrances. The…

Also called hakuraku utsushi 剥落写し. Lit. a copy of the exfoliated state of a painting. An exact copy of the present-…

Ch: jianbi. Often genpitsubyō 減筆描. Also ryakuhitsu 略筆. Lit. abbreviated brush drawing. An…

Also known as Minghuang (Jp: Meikō 明皇). Ch: Xuanzong (685-762). The sixth emperor of the Tang dynasty, well-known for his…

Humorous or satiric paintings, or sketches or drawings done in fun. Typically, giga have human and animal figures…

An annual festival at Yasaka Jinja 八坂神社 and surrounding area of Kyoto, and a popular subject of Japanese genre painting *…

The technique of scattering drops of shell white *gofun 胡粉 onto a finished…

1　A white pigment *ganryō 顔料, used in Japan from the Muromachi…

The white pigment used for the white face powder of figures in a woodblock print *ukiyo-…

Lit. combining volumes. Long, complicated revenge stories which required two, three, or up to ten booklets, that were sewn…

Bright, strong color applied in layers to a painting, Buddhist image or architectural structure. The technique involves…

Also gomazuki ごまずき. A woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 technique whereby a…

Lit. five seasonal festivals. A popular pictorial theme in Edo period art. The five Chinese-inspired festivals are: …

An *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 subject depicting ladies and noblemen in formal attire, which…

Imperial carts. Ox carriages used by the emperor and empress, or aristocrats. Gosho 御所, meaning the Imperial Palace…

Painters who were given a salary in the service of the shogunate or daimyō 大名. Although the Imperial Court and…

White pigment *ganryō 顔料 including shell lime *…

Applying an undercoat to paper to be used for painting. The undercoat consists of a thin solution of animal glue *…

A light-colored, opaque pigment *ganryō 顔料 made by mixing white pigment such as…

Lit. pictures of herds of horses. One of several horse themes popular in 16th- and 17th-century screen painting. Unlike…

Also *iwa-gunjō 岩群青. A blue pigment made from pulverized azurite, randōkō…

Also written 呉利, and pronounced gori or gurin. A design of stylized bracken-leaf shapes forming repeated…

Ch: Judiyizhi. A 9th-century Chinese Zen monk famous for his one-finger isshi Zen. According to the Wumenguan…

An opaque, dark grey pigment *ganryō 顔料 made by mixing black carbon ink *…

Lit. inverted perspective. A visual technique sometimes employed in Chinese and Japanese painting. While the Western…

Also written 仰覆蓮華. A type of lotus flower design pattern *rengemon 蓮華文. The…

Ch: yuqiao wenda. A pictorial theme of a philosophical dialogue between a fisherman and a woodcutter. The origin of…

A term used to group a number of artists and artistic styles associated with the city of Nagasaki 長崎 from the 17th through…

Also called nagasaki-e 長崎絵 or Nagasaki prints. Woodblock prints made in the port city of Nagasaki during the Edo…

Pictures of a catfish, namazu 鯰. Japanese legend has it that the movement of large catfish deep inside the earth…

Lit. "the seven Komachi." Seven episodes concerning the mid-9th century poetess Ono no Komachi 小野小町, one of the Six Poetic…

Folding screens *byōbu 屏風, usually in a pair, depicting Portuguese and…

Lit. "Southern painting." An abbreviation of *nanshūga 南宗画, which…

A group of artists who produced bird-and-flower painting introduced to Japan by the Chinese artist Shen Nanpin (Jp: Shin…

Ch: nanzonghua. The Southern school of Chinese painting. Composed of literati (scholars) as opposed to the Northern…

Lit. "painting atelier of the southern capital" (nanto 南都, an alternative name for Nara 奈良). Refers to the three…

Ch: Nanquan zhihua. Lit. "Nanzen 南泉 (Ch: Nanquan) pointing at flowers." A Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) dialogue in which the…

Ch: Nanquan zhanmao. A painting subject depicting the Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) parable of the priest Nanquan Puyuan (Jp:…

A type of illustrated woodblock-printed book or handscroll popular from the Muromachi through mid-Edo periods. Although…

A pictorial theme based on the *kabuki 歌舞伎 play named after its…

Lit. "nirvana painting." A genre of painting that depicts the death of the historical Buddha *…

The Kyoto-Osaka region kamigata 上方 term for a *kabuki 歌舞伎 play book…

Also pronounced nenchū gyōji. Lit. "annual events." Nenjū gyōji originally meant the monthly celebrations…

A standing screen *tsuitate shōji 衝立障子 placed on the low wooden floor…

Also called komatsuhiki 小松引 (pulling up small pines). Lit. "Day of the Rat Celebration." One of the traditional…

Paper *washi 和紙 used in painting and drawing to transfer an image to…

1　Lit. "face likeness pictures." Very often bust portraits or a likeness of the head. See *…

Lit. "Japanese-style painting." The term came into use during the Meiji period to distinguish indigenous painting from…

Ch: ershisixiao. Lit. "twenty-four paragons of filial piety." A popular theme in Chinese figure painting based on…

A transparent or semi-transparent animal glue, used as a binder *baizai 媒剤, and…

Illustrations of a diary or an illustrated diary. Diaries of high literary value or writings in the form of diaries occupy…

Also nikuhitsu ukiyo-e 肉筆浮世絵. A painting done with a brush and colored ink on paper or silk and not carved in a…

Also nimaiori byōbu 二枚折屏風. A folding screen with two panels. Came into use in the mid-Muromachi period with a…

A floral and vine design pattern that is a variation of a Chinese grass motif *…

Also called *chūhon 中本 or eiri chūgata yomihon 絵入中型読本; in the…

A pictorial subject taken from "Niou no miya" ("His Perfumed Highness" or "Prince Niou"), Chapter 42 of Genji monogatari…

Lit. "Likeness picture." Kamakura period realistic portraiture of courtiers and warriors painted in the *…

Lit. "The False Murasaki and the Rustic Genji." An extremely popular mid-19th century novel written by Ryūtei Tanehiko 柳亭種彦…

Lit. "brocade pictures." A picture that resembles a colorful embroidered silk brocade, nishikinui 錦繍. A commercial…

Also nogi 芒. A type of cut-foil *kirihaku 切箔. Gold or…

A raised platform used during the production of large-scale paintings. Most such paintings are placed on the floor while…

Printed squares of wrapping paper, noshi 熨斗 which are tied with two-colored cords, mizuhiki 水引 used for…

A pictorial subject based on "Nowaki" ("The Typhoon"), Chapter 28 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

Lit. "subjugation of the Fabulous Night Monster." A pictorial subject taken from a famous episode in Heike monogatari…

Lit. "cloth-pulling waterfalls." A series of waterfalls at the head of the Ikuta 生田 River in Hyōgo Prefecture. In ancient…

The woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 technique of blind or gauffrage…